Happy new year, awesomes! Hope your 2020 is off to a fantastic start. I don't go back to work until next week, so I'm still in my wrap-up/kick-off/vacation brain bubble.
The vacation bubble isn't...entirely relaxing, but still, I'm grateful for it.
Speaking of grateful, given the absolute WHEW-ness of 2019, I decided to lean hard into gratitude and look back at what went well over the course of the year. I've shared some of the highlight-iest highlights below, and would love to hear your high points - share those celebrations!
For my 2019:
My second co-authored novel (Hunter, with the ever-amazing Kacey Ezell) came out and was a bestselling new release! (Being a part of Mark Wandrey's and Chris Kennedy's 4HU is...kind of the best, folks. I highly recommend it. And them. ❤️)
My husband, two of my brothers, my sister-in-law, and my super adorable niece took a family vacation all down the Oregon Coast, then on into Crater Lake and Bend. It was an absurdly good time, AND after years of admiring from afar, I saw redwoods for the first time.
I went to more conventions than previous years, which is always a delight. It meant I got to hang out with some of my favorite people at two of the warmest/most fun/welcoming cons I've attended, the first ever FantaSci (in New Carolina), and my third LibertyCon (in Chattanooga, TN). I also got to experience the awesomeness of FenCon for the first time (right here in Dallas), and had my first-ever author's table. FenCon is easily going to become a favorite - which is nice, since it's my local con.
In other travel news, I turned 40 and went to Ecuador and the freaking Galapagos with two more of my favorite people. That trip = easily a top five life experience. My "best of" pictures is still over 200, so please know it took way too much thinking to even pick these!
It was a big year for writing! Kacey and I decided to invite some amazing authors to contribute tales of Hunters, and so my first co-edited anthology was born - Negotiation, populated by an incredible spread of talented authors) came out and was…that’s right, a bestselling new release!
Short stories abounded – I had stories in anthologies (some also bestselling!) across different shared universes, different publishing houses, different genres – and alllll alongside really badass authors:
- We Dare (futuristic enhanced humans, where I had a mad bomber what bombs at all times),
- From the Ashes (Christopher Woods’ Fallen World universe, where I had a mad scientist what mad sciences his post-apocalyptic village),
- Storming Area 51 (what is says on the tin, where I’m on the dang cover with Sarah Hoyt! and had a young girl who realizes her parents’ RV adventures aren’t exactly what they seemed),
- Salvage Conquest (Kevin Steverson’s Salvage Title universe, where I had pirate hunters who ended up with some unexpected booty),
- Freehold: Resistance (Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold universe, where the tales are all woven together, my story’s ship is on the cover (!!!), and I had some honest traders with a few tricks up their sleeves figure out exactly how honest/tricksy they really wanted to be, with the emperor’s gold on the table).
For me, 2019 was a year of change, loss, growth, and excitement. It was a reminder that transformation is lovely, and can also be downright brutal. Whew.
I imagine your 2019 had some wild ups and downs too. So glad you're here, and here’s to finding a ton more to be grateful for in the 20s.
Happy new year, y’all. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
